Kitchen cabinets

ABSTRACT

A wall-mounted cabinet the back of which is detachable and fixable to a wall or partition separately from the remainder of the cabinet. The detachable back has means engageable with other parts of the cabinet after the back has been fixed so that the cabinet can be built with the back in situ. In a preferred embodiment side panels and a front frame of the cabinet are assembled together before connecting the side panels to the wallfixed back frame.

ite 1 Schreilber States diet [19] KITCHEN CABINETS [76] Inventor: Chaim Samuel Schreiber, c/o

Schreiber Furniture Limited, Harlow, England 22 Filed: Aug. 28, 1972 21] Appl. No.: 284,133

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data June 22, 1972 Great Britain 29,377/72 52 us. c1. 312/245, 312/257 R [51] Int. Cl. A47f 5/08 [58] Field of Search 312/245, 257 R, 257 SK, 312/263 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,142,523 7/1964 Kerrihard 312/245 Jan. 8, 1974 3,379,483 4/1968 Oldford 312/257 R 3,347,610 10/1967 Pilliod 312/263 1,571,601 2/1926 Richards 312/263 Primary Examiner-Casmir A. Nunberg Attorney-Norman F. Oblon et al.

[5 7 ABSTRACT A wall-mounted cabinet the back of which is detachable and fixable to a wall or partition separately from the remainder of the cabinet. The detachable back has means engageable with other parts of the cabinet after the back has been fixed so that the cabinet can be built with the back in situ. In a preferred embodiment side panels and a front frame of the cabinet are assembled together before connecting the side panels to the wall-fixed back frame.

1 Claim, 5 Drawing Figures I KITCHEN CABINETS FIELD OF THE INVENTION ture for fixing to a wall or partition such as a kitchen wall cabinet.

THE PROBLEM Wall cabinets which are sold from shops or stores for installation by the purchaser are usually fixed by holding the cabinet in the intended position against the wall while making the necessary holes in the wall, or marking the wall for subsequent hole formation. This is a difficult operation for the home handyman owing to the weight and/or bulk of the cabinet. While supporting the cabinet it is difficult to judge its position and to free one hand to use a tool or marker. Irregular construction of the wall itself can add to these difficulties.

OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a wall-mounted article of furniture which can be supplied to the purchaser in a flat package and in a form which allows a relatively unskilled person to obtain a satisfactory fixing even of a heavy or bulky article without the usual difficulties.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the invention there is provided an article of furniture for fixing to a wall or partition, comprising a separable back frame, means for fixing said back frame to a wall or partition and means on said back frame for supporting at least one shelf whereby the shelf is mountable on the back frame after the back frame has been fixed to a wall or partition.

The back frame may be the back frame of a wall cabinet which has a body portion which comprises at least two shelves forming top and bottom panels of the cabinet and two side panels and the back frame and body portion may be provided with interengageable connections whereby the body portion is connectable to the back frame after the latter has been fixed to a wall or partition.

The back frame may be formed with parallel grooves each adapted to receive a tongue on a lateral edge of one of said side panels, the latter and the back frame having co-operating catches which interengage when the tongues are located in the grooves and moved therein to the assembled position of the side panels on the back frame.

The wall cabinet may further comprise a front frame with which the side panels are assembleable prior to mounting the side panels on the back frame.

The article of furniture of the present invention can be supplied in a completely knock-down form. For example in the case of a wall cabinet the side panels, front frame and top and bottom panels can be provided as separate units. Alernatively the side panels, front frame and top and bottom panels can be supplied as a single assembled body portion unit.

If a wall cabinet in accordance with the present invention is supplied in a knock-down form then it is convenient for the side panels and the front frame to be provided with similar connecting means to the back frame.

A preferred form of the present invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a back frame of a cabinet of the present invention adapted to be mounted on a supporting wall,

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the front frame of the cabinet of the present invention showing the side panels prior to assembly of the front frame on the side panels,

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing the side panels assembled on the front frame and prior to their assembly on the back frame,

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing the side panels and front frame mounted on the back frame, and

FIG. 5 is a perspective view on an enlarged scale of a detail of FIG. 4.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS In the drawings a wall cabinet is indicated generally at 10 which comprises a back frame 11, side panels 12 and 13, a front frame 14, a bottom panel 15 and a top panel 16.

The components of the wall cabinet 10 can be made from any suitable material but are preferably made from timber or chipboard finished with any suitable coating or lacquer such as a melamine or vinyl coating.

The back frame 11 is rectangular and comprises two vertical struts l7 and 18 and two transverse struts 19 and 20. Each vertical strut l7 and 18 is provided with two fixing holes 21 which enable the frame to be securely mounted on a wall or. similar support surface with the aid of screws, bolts or pins. The back frame 11 is relatively light in weight and can therefore easily be attached to a wall surface by an unskilled person in a level horizontal position.

The front faces of the vertical struts 17 and 18 are formed with vertically extending grooves 22 and 23 respectively and each vertical strut 17 and 18 also carries two similar brackets 24, 24a and 25, 25a respectively.

The bracket 25 is shown in detail in FIG. 5 and comprises a mounting plate 26 which is attached to the vertical strut 18, a retaining lug 27 projecting upwardly from the mounting plate 26 but spaced from the front surface of the vertical strut 18 and a locating tongue 28 which is arranged at right anglesto the plate 26 and which projects outwardly from the front surface of a vertical strut 18.

As can be seen from FIG. 2 the front frame 14 also includes two vertical struts l9 and 30 each formed with a vertically extending groove 31 and 32 respectively and each carrying two brackets 33, 33a and 34, 34a, which are similar to the brackets 24, 25.

Each side panel 12 and 13 is formed along its vertical edges with a lip or tongue 35, 35a and 36, 36a respectively. Each side panel is also provided on its inside face with four brackets 37, which are similar to the brackets 25, only the brackets on the inside face of the side panel 13 being illustrated.

In order to attach the side panels to the front frame, the tongue on one vertical edge of the panel is located in the corresponding groove in the vertical strut of the front frame with the brackets on the side panel located above the corresponding brackets on the vertical strut of the front frame. The side panel is then slid downwardly with the tongue located in the groove in the front frame until the locating tongues on the two brackets on the side panel locate under the retaining lugs of the two brackets on the front frame and the locating tongues of the two brackets-on the front frame locate under the retaining lugs of the two brackets on the side panel. The side panel is thus securely attached to the front frame and the brackets on the side panel take the full weight of the front frame.

When the two side panels are mounted on the front frame, the side panels on the front frame are brought up to the back frame which is already mounted on the wall and the tongue 35a, 360 on the rear vertical edges of the side panels 12 and 13 are located in the grooves 23 and 22 respectively of the back frame with the rear brackets on the side panels located above the brackets on the back frame. The side panels 12 and 13 are then slid downwardly relative to the back frame with the tongues 35a and 360 located in the grooves 23 and 22 until the locating tongues of the brackets 37 on the side panels locate behind the retaining lugs 27 of the brackets on the back frame and the locating tongues on the brackets on the back frame locate behind the retaining lugs on the brackets on the side panels. Thereafter the side panels and front frame are securely mounted on the back frame with the full weight of the side panels and front frame taken through the interengagement of the rear brackets on the side panels and the brackets on the back frame and transmitted therethrough to the back frame.

In order to complete the assembly of the wall cabinet the bottom panel 15 is placed within the cabinet from below so that it rests upon the front and back frames and the top panel 16 is fitted in the top of the cabinet and supported on abutment means. lf desired the top panel 16 can be securely mounted on the top of the cabinet with the aid of snap engaging or friction fit fasteners.

It will be seen from the above that the wall cabinet 10 can be assembled in a particularly simple and easy manner and that, because the.back frame is mounted on the wall before the side panels and front frame are attached thereto it can be readily handled and held in position during mounting on the wall making the operation of the assembly and mounting of the cabinet an easy and unskilled operation.

It will be appreciated that the wall cabinet 10 can be transported in a completely knock-down condition or alternatively the side panels and front frame can be supplied in an assembled condition.

As can be seen from the drawings the front frame 14 is provided with a hinged door 40 which is preassembled on the front frame and thus does not require any assembly.

I claim:

1. An article of manufacture in the form of a wall cabinet, comprising:

a separable back frame and means for fixing the same to a wall, said back frame having a pair of parallel grooves formed along opposite edges thereof and having at least one retaining lug positioned immediately adjacent each of said grooves on the side thereof nearest the other of said parallel grooves therein;

a front frame having a pair of parallel grooves formed along opposite edges thereof and having at least one retaining lug positioned immediately adjacent each of said grooves on the side thereof nearest the other of said parallel grooves therein;

a pair of side panels each being formed on opposite lateral edges thereof with tongues engageable in said grooves of said back frame and said front frame, respectively, and each having at least a pair of catches respectively mounted on one face thereof immediately adjacent said tongue edges for engaging said retaining lugs of said front frame and said back frame, respectively, when said side panels are connected thereto by sliding the tongue edges thereofin said grooves ofthe front frame and the back frame so that in the normal vertical orientation of the cabinet when affixed on a wall, the side panels are retained on said back frame and prevented from falling vertically and the front frame is retained on said side panels and prevented from falling vertically through said retaining lugs and said catches only;

a top panel;

at least one shelf; and

means on said back frame and said front frame when assembled as a cabinet for supporting said top panel and said at least one shelf thereon in a horizontal plane. 

1. An article of manufacture in the form of a wall cabinet, comprising: a separable back frame and means for fixing the same to a wall, said back frame having a pair of parallel grooves formed along opposite edges thereof and having at least one retaining lug positioned immediately adjacent each of said grooves on the side thereof nearest the other of said parallel grooves therein; a front frame having a pair of parallel grooves formed along opposite edges thereof and having at least one retaining lug positioned immediately adjacent each of said grooves on the side thereof nearest the other of said parallel grooves therein; a pair of side panels each being formed on opposite lateral edges thereof with tongues engageable in said grooves of said back frame and said front frame, respectively, and each having at least a pair of catches respectively mounted on one face thereof immediately adjacent said tongue edges for engaging said retaining lugs of said front frame and said back frame, respectively, when said side panels are connected thereto by sliding the tongue edges thereof in said grooves of the front frame and the back frame so that in the normal vertical orientation of the cabinet when affixed on a wall, the side panels are retained on said back frame and prevented from falling vertically and the front frame is retained on said side panels and prevented from falling vertically through said retaining lugs and said catches only; a top panel; at least one shelf; and means on said back frame and said front frame when assembled as a cabinet for supporting said top panel and said at least one shelf thereon in a horizontal plane. 